


all that you have left to lose

by ShippingEverything



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: 5+1 Things, Amputation, But nothing in depth, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Immortality, Regeneration, and having them returned, but in a fun way instead of in a sad way like most of my peter fics, exists in the vague space of early s6 Technically but without any of s6's plot points, if you know who peter is then you're okay, losing body parts, spoilers up to mid s5 i think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:55:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23226679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShippingEverything/pseuds/ShippingEverything
Summary: Just on a medical note, folks, Peterdoesregrow his parts, so you Runners don’t need to return any bits you find lying aroundOr: an incomplete list of things that runners have returned to Peter Lynne, local disaster
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	all that you have left to lose

**Author's Note:**

> i'm writing Another zr fic abt peter giving someone a body part that he's lost, and while listening to zr clips for inspiration, i found a s8 radio clip of a runner asking if peter wanted some loose entrails that they had found (clip 53, where the summary quote comes from). i found the idea of runners and other abel residents just giving peter body parts they found hilarious and it wouldn't leave me alone. 
> 
> this fic exists Vaguely somewhere early s6 but includes absolutely none of s6's plot points, so! if you've ran lazarus, you should be good
> 
> title, aptly, from the wombat's _walking disasters_ , please enjoy!

_1._ _Ear (Right, torn)_

Nadia drops the ear in front of Peter at the mess hall, which is less than ideal for a variety of reasons. A bit because it makes Peter want to eat his mystery soup a little less, but _mostly_ because it causes Reggie from the kitchen to glare over at them. 

"What did I say about dismembered limbs in my mess hall?"

"Not allowed unless they're going in your food," Peter dutifully recites. "Though, can I just say, that's _majorly_ creepy. Am I supposed to take that as 'If Abel had a food shortage, you'd become our very own renewable meat source'? Because that's how I've taken it."

Reggie doesn't respond except to narrow their eyes further, which isn't exactly _inspiring._ Peter turns back to Nadia. "Good afternoon, Nadia! To what do I owe the honor?"

"Someone gave this to Veronica but she said that it wasn't a 'good enough sample,'" Nadia says, with the look of an indulgent older sibling who's been given a mudpie. "I figured you might want it back."

Peter is never sure where he stands with Nadia; she didn't know him, before, and hasn't really shown any interest in getting to know him now, beyond awkward small talk when he goes to Veronica's labs. Still, as her hand's twitch against the wheels of her chair, he recognizes her bravado, as well as the devotion to someone who's just a bit crazy. He smiles at her, puts his spoon down, and picks up the ear. He doesn't want it, not really, but it was nice of her to bring it.

* * *

_2\. Finger (Left pinky, cut just above the palm)_

Peter supposes that it’s his fault, walking up to another runner without loudly announcing his presence beforehand. Still, it's not like he _knew_ Jody was sharpening her knife. 

"Peter, _oh my god_ , I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" Jody gasps, dropping out of her defensive stance as easily as she'd moved into it. Between them on the soft grass of the quad, Peter's finger lays forlornly.

"Since when do you use knives anyway?" Peter hisses, voice muffled by how he's shoved his hand into his mouth in a reflexive attempt to stop the pain. He knows that his body is working to fix it, that in a few hours he'll have a full hand again, but _still_.

"Tom gave it to me," Jody replies, more starry-eyed than the statement would've called for half a decade ago. Really, Peter should've expected the answer; De Lucas like it best when everyone is nice and well-armed.

"Why are you sharpening it, then? I'd say it's sharp enough already, obviously." Peter wiggles his pinky-less hand pointedly, though there's a significant part of him that's thankful that he only caught her after the knife was sharp enough to make a clean cut: a half-dull blade would've hurt more. Jody scowls, though her eyes still have an apologetic sheen to them. 

"Well, what are _you_ doing skulking around like that? You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"I was _going_ to ask if you wanted to join me on a book exchange run because I heard a rumor that Fort Canton had the fifth Percy Jackson book," Peter huffs, "But now I think I should just go alone."

"Oh, don't be like that," Jody says. She picks up Peter's still bleeding finger from the ground and tosses it to him as she bends to tie her sneakers tighter. 

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Peter asks, making a face. The wound on his hand has closed up, overactive cells already starting to grow him a new pinky, but he puts the old one up to the spot for a moment anyway, pulling it away like a macabre mimicry of a fake finger magic trick.

"I dunno, that's not my problem, is it?" Jody snarks, "Now, let's go, before someone else gets that novel."

* * *

_3\. Kidney (Look, it’s been a hard week)_

"Damn it, Peter," Louise Bailey hisses, and something hits Peter's back, fast enough that he knows she threw it, "I slipped on your intestines!"

"Sorry! Next time someone's _slicing through me_ with a _machete_ , I'll be sure to keep all my organs inside so I don't hurt _you_ ," Peter snarks back as she catches up with him. She didn't _actually_ slip on his intestines, Peter knows, because his intestines are definitely still inside of his body, despite the torso-spanning slash that he's weakly pressing his hands against -- it used to be hard for him to tell what he'd lost or what hurt, but he's become something of an expert at it since he's rejoined Abel. He's not quite sure if that's a good thing. Still, Louise probably did trip on _something_ of his, since whatever she threw at his back was too fleshy and soft to be anything but organic, and he's certain that a few of his less than vital organs spilled out. "You know, this is why I hate missions where I have to deal with _people_."

"Because you lose your organs?" Louise asks, voice dripping with sarcasm. 

"Yes, because I lose my organs! Zombies bite and scratch, but they don't throw knives or slice me up. I may be immortal but I can still feel _pain_ ," Peter says. Louise is quiet for a moment before she turns around. Peter slows down, nervously looking back towards her and, unfortunately, the direction that their pursuers are coming from. "Oi! What are you _doing_?"

Louise bends to pick something up and doubles back, cradling a fist-sized, burgundy thing in her hands. She tosses it and Peter catches it on reflex. "Here, it's yours anyway."

The kidney is a bit misshapen and smushed, probably from where Louise stepped on it, but it's still warm in his hands. Louise looks at him out the side of her eye like she's expecting him to just pull open his cut and pop it back in. He slides it into his backpack instead, already anticipating a lecture from Maxine about getting bio-goo on Township supplies. "Thanks, appreciate it."

* * *

_4\. Three toes, as well as one and a half loose phalanges (Big and index of right, big of left, god knows where those phalanges came from)_

Paula frowns at Peter's feet. Peter frowns at the roof of the building that he still calls the Med Tent in his head. 

"Well, doctor?" He asks, "What's the verdict?" 

Paula moves her scrutiny to Peter's face. "I don't know how you managed to crush your feet like this-"

"I was carrying a supply crate and I tripped, alright, it's not like I did it on _purpose_ ," Peter defends. Paula continues as though he hadn't spoken.

" _But_ , usually, I'd do an X-ray and maybe some surgery to re-set, then wrap the toes up for a few weeks. For _you_ , I can tell that at least two of these have set wrong already, so I'll have to re-break them. Though I guess, I could always just amputate."

Peter considers this. "Which one will be faster?"

"The amputation, but you'd be off-balance while things grew back."

"I'd be off-balance with the wrap too," Peter waves her concern off like he's swatting a bug, "No, no, better the quick solution. Can I get anesthetic?"

" _Can you get-_ Of _course_ you can Peter, what kind of doctor do you think I am?" Paula shakes her head at him. "Sometimes, I wonder what's going on in that head of yours."

Peter grins at her, unrepentant and a little self-deprecating. "You and me both, Doc."

Later, after Peter's enjoyed some of the best pain-numbing that Abel can spare and has been given a blindfold because _"If you don't stop looking down here and flinching, I'm going to have to cut e_ _ven more and_ neither _of us wants that,"_ Paula hands Peter a biohazard bag. 

Peter shakes it experimentally and scrunches his nose at the sound of flesh bouncing around inside. "Are these my toes?"

"Yes. Bring them over to Veronica for me, would you? She's been trying to convince Maxine that it would be ethical to cut off one of your limbs for nearly a month now, anyway, might as well give her some _actually_ ethically-sourced Peter parts."

"What am I, a mailman?" Peter asks, peeking into the bag and wincing with phantom pain. Paula frowns at him.

"Do you need a blindfold to wear on the way over to Veronica's as well?"

"Why, _Doctor Cohen_ , I didn't think you were into that sort of thing," Peter leers, breaking into laughter when Paula throws a roll of bandages at him. "Alright, alright, I'm going!"

"And be careful of that foot!"

* * *

_5\. A rather large bone (???)_

"That is _not_ mine." 

Tom stares at Peter, unblinking. Peter likes Tom, he did even when Tom was more liability than friend, but _god_ if he isn't creepy sometimes. 

"Are you sure?" Tom asks, looking from the bone, a massive thing that's clearly longer than Peter's forearm, to Peter. 

"I'm _quite_ sure. I don't know who this belongs to, but I like to think that I would've noticed losing a leg bone."

Tom hums, consideringly. He picks up the bone and swings it once, as though he's testing the heft and balance. Peter suddenly has a horrible vision of Tom, just as dangerous and De Luca-ish as he is right now, but also armed with a _bone sword_. He doesn't think that Janine would ever forgive him if he let that happen. 

"Actually, you know what?" Peter says, reaching forward and taking the bone from Tom, "I think this might be mine. Thank you for returning it, I'll just, uh, add it to the collection, as it were."

"You collect your own bones?" Tom asks. Peter, who is already too far in, just smiles back at him. 

"We all have our little hobbies," He offers. Tom raises his eyebrows but nods. Still, Peter makes a mental note to tell Jody to be on the lookout for any weird new quirks; Tom had seemed _much_ too interested in the concept of a bone collection.

* * *

_\+ 1. Nothing_

Five clears their throat as they enter Peter's curtained-off corner of the Med Tent. " **Rare that you're trapped in here** ," They sign. 

"Unfortunately, even I need some time and doctor assistance to fix spinal trauma," Peter says, putting down the knitting that Jody gave him; he appreciates the gesture but, when one of your hands is pins-and-needles numb and you can only use the other if you hold your arm in a very particular position while your nerves stitch themselves back together, kinitting is more effort than it's worth. "Nice of you to come visit, though." 

Five makes a face, their classic _I'm not sorry but manners tell me that I should be_ face, and signs, " **Sam told me that I should come visit you. He says I shouldn't keep your things without asking**."

"My things?" Peter asks, brow furrowed. "What do you have of mine? I didn't _you'd_ be much for theft, Five. Well, theft among friends, that is."

" **I'm _not_ , it's just**-" They cut themselves off and reach into their pocket with a heavy sigh. What they pull out is small, white, and clean. Peter's confused for a moment, wondering why in the world Sam thinks it's his, and then Five moves it in their hand so he can get a better idea of the shape, and- huh. 

"That's one of my vertebrae." He says, though it sounds more accusing than he'd intended. Five scowls. 

" **I _found it_ , fair and square. You just left it on the ground, obviously you didn't care about it**."

"Five, my dear, darling head of runners," Peter starts, desperately wishing that his hands were working enough that he could steeple them for emphasis. "I _passed out_ from _blood loss_."

" **That's not any of my business!** " Five signs emphatically. 

Sometimes, Peter forgets that Five is like this; sometimes, in his head, Five is a big soft puppy that loves sports bras and Sam. The real Five, unfortunately, is a gremlin who does things like drink shampoo to win a bet and pick up garbage off the ground during runs just because they can. "Whatever, it's fine. I don't want it anyway."

Five looks at him suspiciously but puts the bone away. " **Are you sure?** "

" _Very_. I've already regrown most of the damaged pathways, I'm sure the bones are nearly back as well." 

" **I wasn't _really_ worried about you taking this one back**," They say, finally smiling and coming closer to settle into the chair next to Peter's bed. " **But it would've been okay if you did;** **I have three more**."

" _Three more_?" Peter asks, "Are they all vertebrae or- Actually, nevermind, I don't want to know and I don't want them back."

" **Good** ," Five grins, wolfish and sharp, " **I wouldn't have given them to you anyway**."

**Author's Note:**

> this fic was hard because i dont know where any zr character is at Any given time, much less when i'm writing a fic that exists in a nebulous time. also im 90% sure its not canon that veronica ever did studies on peter's hyper-regeneration, but you know what? i have Three favorite zr characters and i Will make them interact in fics, no one can stop me
> 
> anyway! thank y'all so so much for reading, comments, kudos, etc fill my heart with warmth!
> 
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